Maternity Protection in Cyprus

The Protection of Maternity Law 100(I)/1997 does two things that employers regularly get wrong. It fixes a period of leave that is longer than most people assume, and it protects the job for months after that leave ends, with a mechanism that undoes a dismissal already announced rather than merely giving a remedy for it.

The leave, and the part of it that is compulsory

Under section 3(1) an employee who produces a registered doctor's certificate stating the week in which the birth is expected is entitled to maternity leave. Under section 3(2) that leave is twenty two consecutive weeks, of which eleven are compulsory and must be taken in the period beginning two weeks before the expected week of confinement. The proviso extends the period to twenty six consecutive weeks for a third confinement and for those after it.

The same section deals with arrangements that used to fall outside the statute. An employee who has had a child through surrogacy, on producing the court order under the medically assisted reproduction legislation together with a doctor's certificate of the start of the pregnancy, is entitled to maternity leave under section 3A, and section 3(2A) gives the surrogate mother her own entitlement.

The protection, and how long it lasts

Section 4(1)(a) is the core of the Law. Subject to the exceptions in section 4B, an employee who informs her employer in writing that she is pregnant is protected from dismissal for a period running from the beginning of her pregnancy until five months after the end of her maternity leave.

Section 4(1)(b) spells out what the employer may not do during that period, and the third limb is the one usually overlooked. The employer may not give notice of termination, or notice that expires within the period; may not terminate the employment; and may not take steps aimed at her permanent replacement. Recruiting a permanent successor while she is on leave is inside the prohibition even if nobody has said the word dismissal.

Section 4A extends the same protection to an adoptive mother from the moment she produces the Social Welfare Services certificate of her intention to take the child.

The dismissal that undoes itself

Section 4(3) is the provision that surprises employers. A termination of employment, or a notice of termination, is revoked, regardless of whether the employer knew the employee was pregnant, provided she notifies him of the pregnancy with a registered doctor's certificate within five working days of the day she learns of the dismissal or of the intention to dismiss.

Two things follow from that. For the employee, the five working days are short and they run from knowledge of the dismissal rather than from its effective date, so the certificate is obtained immediately rather than after taking advice at leisure. For the employer, ignorance is not an answer: a dismissal decided in good faith and in complete ignorance of a pregnancy is still revoked by a certificate delivered in time.

The three exceptions, and the duty that comes with them

Section 4B(1) disapplies sections 4 and 4A in three cases: where the employee is guilty of serious misconduct or conduct justifying the rupture of the employment relationship; where the business has ceased to operate; and where the period of a fixed term contract has expired, except where the non-renewal is connected with the pregnancy, the birth, breastfeeding or the maternity leave.

Section 4B(2) attaches a duty to relying on any of them: the employer must notify the employee in writing of the reasons for the termination or for the notice, and must duly justify them. An employer who dismisses within the protected period and says nothing has not met the section even if a good reason existed.

The hour a day, and what it is worth

Section 5(1) gives the woman, for breastfeeding or for the increased care her child's upbringing requires, a right for twelve months from the birth, or from the day maternity leave begins in the case of adoption, either to interrupt work for one hour, or to arrive one hour later, or to leave one hour earlier, each day. A woman who chooses to interrupt work may use that time to breastfeed, or to express and store milk, and the employer is obliged to provide the necessary facilities under the breastfeeding legislation.

Section 5(2) settles what it costs her: the hour, whether taken as an interruption, a late start or an early finish, counts and is paid as working time. It is not unpaid leave and it is not deducted.

Section 5A adds paid absence from work for prenatal examinations where those have to take place during working hours.

What a breach costs, and the terms that cannot limit it

Under section 9 an employer who contravenes the obligations arising from, among others, sections 5, 5A and 7 commits an offence punishable on conviction by a fine not exceeding seven thousand euro, rising to eight thousand euro on a second conviction for a breach of section 5 within two years.

Section 9A(1) removes two familiar defences. Where the Law is breached, provisions imposing a minimum period of employment or a minimum number of working hours as a condition of liability, or of the right to compensation or another remedy, do not apply, and neither do provisions setting a ceiling on compensation. Section 9A(2) makes any agreement between employer and employee providing for such a condition or ceiling void. A short-service or part-time employee is inside the protection, and a contractual cap on what a maternity claim can recover is worth nothing.

Questions we are asked

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws and their application can change, and individual circumstances differ. For advice on your own matter, contact Klitos Platis at klitos@kleanthousplatis.com or telephone +357 22 680 330.

Klitos Platis

Advocate, Partner

Kleanthous & Platis LLC, Nicosia · Published 22 August 2026